THE METACOGNITIVE CONVERSATION: MAKING THINKING VISIBLE

Introduction

What is the metacognitive conversation?

.'fI,[ctacogllition, simply put, is thinking about thinking. When students and teachers talk together about their thinking as they read, they construct a metacogllitive conversation. This shared inquiry is at the heart of the Reading Apprentieeship.

Conversations about how one is thinking make the invisible meaning-mak­ing process of reading visible by showing how readers ask questions, form images, make analogies, make predictions, and identify areas where they are having trouble and need to use strategies to restore comprehension.

The classroom applications included in this packet give readers ways to engage in the metacognitive conversation by observing and externalizing their thoughts while reading or performing a learning task.

• Play-Doh Animal Creations introduces the mctacognitive conversation in a non-threatening way,

• Think-Aloud gives readers practice observing and verbalizing their thinking process as they read (Davey, B. 1983).

• Reading strategy lists, Talking to the Text and donble and triple entry journals are designed to capture the reading process in writing.

Why use it?

The metacognitive conversation gives:

• Teachers access to their own thinking, so that they can become more aware of the strategies that they nsc to make meaning as they read;

• Students access to teachers' thinking, so that students can both learn to think metacognitively and take on new comprehension strategies;

• Students access to other students' thinking, so that they can see and appropriate a wide variety of comprehension strategies, and have op­portunities to model as experts themselves;

I" �� For more on the lvletacognitive Conversation� see Readingjor Understanding, pages 22·24,

©WeslEd 2002 All rights reserved. Strategic Literacy Initiative 8/02

• Metacognition: Making Thinking Visible

• Teachers access to students' thinking, so teachers can see where stu­

dents need help, and how they are negotiating the demands of different texts; and

• Students access to their own thinking, so that they can each become

more aware of their reading processes and wield greater control over their meaning making.

Melacognitive conversations reveal the mental processes that readers use as well as places where comprehension breaks down. By sharing their rcading processes with others, students become aware of and begin

to extend their comprehension skills, thinking habits, and confidence as readers as they leam abont new ways of approaching reading from their teacher and peers. With routine opportunities to analyze their reading processes and engage in metacognitive talk, students learn to monitor

their own reading processes and to use strategies flexibly and automati­cally to restore comprehension when it breaks down. Practiced over time, the metacognitive conversation helps them become more strategic and resourceful readers and to more automatically monitor and control their

reading processes.

When to use it?

Inquiry activities for analyzing the reading process help readers think

metacognitively as they read to support comprehension. Classroom ap­plications such as Think,Aloud, Talking to the Text and douhle entry

journals are designed to be used during reading to help students read for understanding. They pave the way for larger subject area conversations and "beyond" lessons such as Socratic Seminars and interpretive essays by

helping students to construct the subject matter knowledge they will need to engage in higher order thinking activities.

Students need to practice engaging in metacognitive conversation fre­quently in the beginning of the year to develop the habit of making think­ing visible, and routinely throughout the year when new or challenging texts (text meaning anything written, no matter what the genre or topic) are introduced. For example, teachers can engage students in metacogni­

tive conversations to:

• Model the meaning-making process with text;

• Practice observing and talking about their thinking processes;

• Provide structure for difficult independent or group work;

Notes

©WestEd 2002 All rights reserved. 2 Strategic Literacy Initiative 8/02

• Metacognition: Making Thinking Visible

• Model and practice engaging affectively with text;

• Introduce new textbooks, to explore and develop awareness of text structure and text clues;

• Read through a difficult or new type of text in order to familiarize themselves with the demands of the text and to generate helpful com­

prehension strategies;

• Break dovm a new process or procedure step by step to both build and check for understanding;

• Read student work in order to peer-edit.

How to use it?

Melacognition and the metacognitive conversation are developed over

time through inquiry activities for analyzing reading processes, Teachers

might introduce metacognitive thinking at any point hy modeling a prob­

lem-solving or thinking process using Think-Aloud,

For example:

.Amathteachermi9htus.eJ!lhl�.CAloU!:ltom'0�elpr�__ .. . . dieti nga· definitionJor a neW;#ermercotlntered\>V�ile, ........ ",

readi(i9. "What is' qllirrati()fl(ll llutllb�riwell;:JJ ,re�i!!IJI:' ..•. ber tnotpJ isan jrrofionalhumberbecciuseitsA�cimols .••. goon ·f.or everwithpu1"anypattern,· ,$0 I'm thUlklng'that

. ot .. . her irrationOl nOtnbersmust havethat .same p roperty.". ' , ,' , ,: , - - ;

'

,'

- - \ ,' ,' ,' - "," - - - "

Students can practice metacognition with short passages of text that are

key to their understandings of a concept, topic or theme, using Think­

Aloud, Talking to the Text, or double and triple entry journals that have meta cognitive prompts, These applications are particularly helpful when

introducing new pieces of text. Metacognition can also be embedded in Extensive Reading by using the Metacognitive Reading Logs, (See the

Extensive Reading packet)

For students to become aware of their thinking processes and use this

awareness to monitor and guide their reading comprehension, they will

need i)'equent opportunities to practice with the support and collaboration

of their peers, It is important to be patient, to practice often, and to trust that given time and opportunities to practice this routine, students will

---_ . . .. --

Notes

©WestEd 2002 AI! rigbts reserved, 3 Strategic Literacy Initiative 8/02

+ Metacognition: Making Thinking Visible

begin to develop the habit of thinking rnetacognitively, (See "What you Might Expect" at the end of this packet.)

The key to successful metacognitive conversations in the classroom is carefully sea/folded instmclion followed by ref,,'Ular, frequent use, Scaf­folding is instructional support designcd to assist students in accom­plishing a task when they are at an impasse, Scaffolds provide enough help to complete the task, but no more than students need. Over time, scaf­folded support is gradually faded, or removed, so students do more and more oflhe task independently (Rose 1995). It is vitally important to the success of the metacognitive conversation in a classroom that social skills

supporting frank, honest, and safe conversations be scaffolded, as well as

the more cognitive aspects of the process.

Deepening Metacognitive Conversations

While the metacognitive conversation is about making thinking visible, the ultimate goal is not simply awareness, but the ability to use insights

about reading processes, strategies, and motivations in the service of understanding reading materials. Metacognitive conversations�whether in the form of sharing reading experiences, carrying out Think-Alouds, or

writing meUlcognitive reflections and logs-play a crucial role in help­

ing students to develop insights about reading and to build a repenoire of strategies to overcome obstacles and deepen comprehension. For students

(and teachers!) who are nOl accustomed lO noticing, describing, or dis­

cussing their mental processes, learning to "think ahout thinking" and to

take control over reading processes can take time, practice, and patience. It is important to give students a clear sense of the goals and benefits of practicing metacognitive thinking so that they can invest the effort needed

to make it, as one student said, "just like breathing."

Prepare to guide students through stages of the rnetacogntive conversation

from noticing their thinking, through focusing on reading and taking charge of their reading processes, to becoming aware of subject area discourse, In the beginning, invite students to notice and describe their thinking as they carry out hands-on activities (see Play-Doh Animal Cre­

ations in this packet) or engage in everyday events (see the Metacognitive Bus, pgs, 57- 58 in Readingfor Understanding), You can ask questions such as "What was going on in your mind?" or "What were you thinking

about0" to open up the conversation. As students begin to surface their invisible mental processes, they are likely to offer a variety of non-aca­

demically related thoughts, such as, "I'm bored," "My mind is wandering because I hate reading hooks like this," "I am worrying that my hair looks

bad."

Notes

For morc on establishing a safe classroom environment, see Readingfor

Understanding, pages 24-29,

Readmg [or

Understanding,

pages 57-58.

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.. Metacognition: Making Thinking Visible ---_ .. _-_.... . . . . _-

Once students have the idea of metacognition, ask them to focus their Notes attention on their reading processes. Lay the groundwork for more stra-

tegic reading by creating a classroom environment in which stl.ldents feel comfortable sharing connections they make to their reading, their levels

of interest in reading materials, and confusions they may have, Surfacing mental processes in response to reading, even if these consist largely of

distractions or confusions at first, is good practice that will lead to more

strategic reading with the teacher's guidance. Questions such as "What

did this remind you of?" or "Where did you begin to get confused?"

"What is this related to?" and "What helped you understand?" can help

focus students' thinking,

Once students are able to describe their thinking in relation to reading

tasks, it is important to deepen the focus of the metacognitive conversation

to help students understand and take charge of their reading and compre­

hension, Questions such as the following can help: "How did you clear up that confusion?" "How could you get an overview of what this section says?" "\\That connections did you make?" "How did you figure that outT'

Expect students to offer observations about how well their reading is going and about their comprehension problems, linking these problems to po­tential remedies,

As students take charge of their reading and comprehension, they have the

foundation needed to become aware of the discourse in different subject

areas. Guiding questions that help deve.lop this awareness inclnde: "What

did you notice about the way this text is organized?" "Wbat is the most important concept or question here?" "How does this connect to or conflict

with what you already know about this topic?"

While the teacher takes initial responsibility in asking and modeling ques�

tions that deepen students' metacognitive thinking process, over time stu­

dents should ask more and more of the questions and learn to prompt each

other's and their own thinking, When practiced regularly, metacognitive

conversations and routines can improve students' reading for understand­

ing, deepen their thinking, and help them build the mental habits they need

to become increasingly independent and resourceful subject area readers,

©WestEd 2002 All rights reserved, 5 Strategic Literacy Initiative 8102

.. Metacognition: Making Thinking Visible

Mapping the Metacognitive Conversation

Noticingyourthinkbig "I'm bored."

. PI wish he would stop talking. "

"/ can't get that argument with my mom out of my head."

Focusblg on reading �'I/ost focus when they introduced some terms I dh/n't understand." ..

• • I

. •

"Wait.:. wh1J is tHis new character7/'m con/used. " ... ' '+here's a l(jt o/ in/ormation in this word problem." . what am I supposed to do here?"

Ta'kingcharge'ofreading "I'm going to lookat the ii!!Jftrations and figures to see

if they help me unders tand thekey terms." .. "/ne�d to figure out what this word problem is asking /or .. .I'1I sumri10rize it to see i/ that helps."

Becol1lblg aliVare of subject area d�scourse

"Whose point of viewls thif [anlsho!Jld . I trust it?" .

"How can I translate this problem into numbers and symbols?"

©WestEd 2002 All rights reserved. 6 Strategic Literacy lnitiati ve 8/02